Targeted Age Group:: romance readers of any age, especially those who enjoy medievals

Kallen de Mangeron grew up in a convent, her noble family never knowing of her birth. When a new Mother Superior informs them of her existence, they send trusted knight Griffith Sommersby to escort her home.

Griffith’s heart broke when he lost his wife and infant son during childbirth, and he’s kept his feelings locked away from the world—until he meets Kallen. He soon learns her dark secret—that she sees auras around people—which allows her insight into their actions and personalities.

Now Quentin, bastard brother to the king, decides to harness Kallen’s gift in a plot to win the throne. Will Quentin successfully use a kidnapped Kallen as his political pawn, or will Griffith be able to stop him before Kallen changes the course of England’s history?

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
I read an article about a woman who could see auras surrounding people. I was intrigued by the idea and created a medieval woman who had the same hidden talent. She is kidnapped by a man wanting to overthrow the king. He believes using her insights into people, via their auras, will guarantee him success.

After ten years apart, Boston schoolmarm Jenny McShanahan receives a letter from her beloved father that instructs her to join him in Texas. She has no idea that he’s become Famous Sam McShan, the Robin Hood of the West. She arrives to find Sam already gone, but he left instructions for Jenny to hire a guide and rendezvous with him in Nevada.

Texas Ranger Noah Daniel Webster knows Sam personally because his father, Pistol Pete Webber, was Sam’s longtime partner in crime. When Pete is killed during their last big score, Noah requests the assignment to bring Sam to justice. Going undercover, he volunteers to act as Jenny’s escort across the dangerous prairie, using her to track her outlaw father’s location.

As they journey through rough country, love blossoms—but Noah knows the second he arrests Sam, his betrayal will kill Jenny’s love for him. Should the lawman do his duty as a Ranger, or should he let love rule? The choice Noah makes will change their lives forever

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
I’m a native Texan and was eager to write a book about a Texas Ranger. I’d written five other historical romance novels, so I thought it was time to write one set in Texas. The Rangers are larger than life, and I thought a Texas Ranger would make for a good hero in a romance novel.

When Gavin of Ashgrove and his closest friend are captured in a fierce battle during the Hundred Years’ War, their captors demand a hefty ransom from their fathers for their return. Robert is quickly set free, but Gavin’s father refuses to pay for his son’s release, leaving him to rot in a squalid French prison. Aided by a sympathetic priest, he escapes and returns home to England, only to find he has been proclaimed a bastard and disinherited.

With nowhere to turn Gavin journeys to Kentwood, where he fostered as a boy, hoping Lord Aldred will take him on as a knight in his guard. The old warrior is close to death, but he soon realizes Gavin is his son. Aldred plots to have Gavin inherit Kentwood and marry his much younger wife, Elizabeth, a famed and opinionated beauty who remains a virgin after a decade of marriage.

Will the king recognize Lord Aldred’s first request of a marriage between Elizabeth and Robert, uniting Robert’s estate with Kentwood—or will the temperamental Edward reward Aldred’s years of service and honor a dying man’s final request?

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
I loved discovering how noblemen captured in war in the Middle Ages would be ransomed back to their families. I began toying with the idea of, “What if a family didn’t send the ransom? What would happen to the prisoner?” That was the seed that began A BIT OF HEAVEN ON EARTH!

Maggie Rutherford jilts her too-perfect society groom at the altar and flees to the American West, where she turns her travels into dime novels that she writes under the pen name Lud Madison.

Civil War veteran Ben Morgan marries his childhood sweetheart and takes her to homestead on the Great Plains. Losing her in an Indian attack, Ben becomes a roaming gambler. When he kills a cheating opponent in self-defense, the man’s gunslinger brother swears revenge.

After Ben joins a cattle drive and brings in a herd to Abilene, a waiting Maggie interviews him for her next story. Sparks fly as they wind up living in the same household, running a general store east of Abilene. But with Black Tex Lonnegan on his trail, will Ben run from his growing attraction to Maggie and the gunfighter’s promise of death–or will he make a stand for his life–and love?

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
I raised my daughter to think for herself and be a little feisty. My heroine Maggie is based upon her. Maggie is smart as a whip and believes she can do anything she sets her mind to, which is something I love about her.

My hero Ben needed to be a man broken, one who thought he’d never love again after his wife’s death. I wrote him to be smart, handsome, caring, and a bit surprised to find he CAN love again–because he’s found his soul mate in Maggie.

As the third wife of an abusive French vineyard owner, Madeleine Bouchard hasn’t produced the expected heir after three years of marriage. Fearing he plans to kill her, she flees during a trip to England. Unable to make her way home, she joins a troupe of traveling mummers and reinvents herself as the only woman troubadour in the land, captivating audiences with both song and story.

Nobleman Garrett Montayne’s fascination with Madeleine causes him to pay the troupe to bypass their next stop in order to journey to his estate. Though he suspects Madeleine of being a thief with dark secrets, love blossoms between them under the magical moon of summer solstice.

But Madeleine’s past is about to catch up with her, as her husband is set to arrive to conduct business with Garrett. Madeleine determines to free herself from her loveless marriage and make a new life with Garrett, no matter what the cost.

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
I enjoyed reading historical romances written in the medieval era, and I decided I wanted to write one myself! I was always fascinated with the stories troubadours told, and so I made my heroine Madeleine the only woman troubadour in all of England.

I had Madeleine join a traveling group of mummers who perform at faires, and I really had fun researching all the goods that were sold and other things about the time period.

Separated from her twin during the Orphan Train selection, schoolmarm Serena Sullivan searched for her brother Bill over fifteen years. Just as she gets a lead on his whereabouts, she is railroaded by a crooked sheriff and set to hang for the murder of the sheriff’s best friend.

English playwright Daman Rutledge has come to the American West on business for his brother when he witnesses a woman about to be executed. On impulse he rescues the beautiful stranger and goes on the run with her across the Kansas prairie. Along the way Daman finds the muse he’s been missing and loses his heart to the raven-haired beauty with haunting amber eyes.

As they try to escape the long arm of the law, Daman seeks to prove Serena’s innocence before it’s too late. They find love—and the truth—on a journey that changes their lives.

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
I had read an article about the children sent out to the West on the Orphan Trains. I wondered what it would be like to have a brother and sister separated at one of the selection spots–and then search for each other over the years. That became the premise for OUTLAW MUSE.

As the third wife of an abusive French vineyard owner, Madeleine Bouchard hasn’t produced the expected heir after three years of marriage. Fearing he plans to kill her, she flees during a trip to England. Unable to make her way home, she joins a troupe of traveling mummers and reinvents herself as the only woman troubadour in the land, captivating audiences with both song and story.

Nobleman Garrett Montayne’s fascination with Madeleine causes him to pay the troupe to bypass their next stop in order to journey to his estate. Though he suspects Madeleine of being a thief with dark secrets, love blossoms between them under the magical moon of summer solstice.

But Madeleine’s past is about to catch up with her, as her husband is set to arrive to conduct business with Garrett. Madeleine determines to free herself from her loveless marriage and make a new life with Garrett, no matter what the cost.

Targeted Age Group:
adult woman

How is Writing In Your Genre Different from Others?
I write historical romance, so I need to make sure I get the historical details right – but not sound like a dry history lesson. I try my best to integrate fun tidbits and information without preaching to my readers.

What Advice Would You Give Aspiring Writers?
Attending conferences is very important. You meet other writers and learn so much. The support you receive and the information you discover is invaluable as you pursue a writing career.

Author Bio:
As a child, Lauren Linwood gathered her neighborhood friends together and made up stories for them to act out, her first venture into creating memorable characters. Following her passion for history and love of learning, she became a teacher who began writing on the side to maintain her sanity in a sea of teenage hormones.

Lauren’s novels focus on two of her favorite eras, medieval times and the American Old West. History is the backdrop that places her characters in extraordinary circumstances, where their intense desire and yearning for one another grows into the deep, tender, treasured gift of love.

Lauren, a native Texan, lives in a Dallas suburb with her family. An avid reader, moviegoer, and sports fan, she manages stress by alternating yoga with five mile walks. She is thinking about starting a support group for Pinterest and House Hunters addicts.

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
I love the medieval era and gobbled up every romance from that era. When I ran out of ones to read, I decided I just better write my own!